‘House of Cards’ Recap: “Chapter 24”

The third season of House of Cards premieres on Netflix on February 27th, meaning you can watch the first two seasons — each of the 26 episodes — watching one episode per day just in time for the Season Three to drop on the streaming service. Join in with Joel Kim Booster, who will be watching each episode for the first time and recapping them every day.

Well I have to say I didn’t see that coming.

When I first laid eyes on Edward Meechum — or more accurately when I first saw how Frank Underwood laid eyes on Edward Meechum, way back in “Chapter 3” — I knew that these two would bone sooner or later. What I did not expect was that their inevitable hook-up would take the form of a threesome. Or that it would terrify me nearly as much as it did.

Maybe it was my own biases, but it really wasn’t until this episode that I sensed any yearning from Lady Underwood towards their most loyal Secret Service agent at all. There were even moments sprinkled throughout “Chapter 24” that I initially thought were pointing towards a one-on-one p-in-v encounter for Meechum and Claire.

Quite Frankly, leaving Frank out in the cold would have probably pissed me off more than him murdering Corey Stoll.

As much as I wanted this show to get to the main event they were clearly telegraphing here, as soon as Meechum, lumbering idiot that he is, cut his finger on that glass, I was reminded how theatrical this show can sometimes become. Watching Claire patch him up and subsequently convincing him to drink with her conjured up a vision in my mind of Blanche DuBois and Mitch Mitchell in what has now become my dream cast of A Streetcar Named Desire. Bring back the heatwave from a few episodes back, and it’s basically all there.

Thankfully the show doesn’t linger too long on these moments (or Meechum’s serial killer smile/laugh combo), as Frank arrives home with just enough time to insert himself into their moment and from there, well. You know what happens next.

They backed off a bit from naked exploration of the Underwood marriage that they provided in “Chapter 23,” but watching the two ensnare Meechum in these last few minutes (and the coolness of their morning after breakfast conversation) added further detail to their complicated relationship.

They’ve become such a Will and Grace duo at the heart of this show, I half expected Claire to completely remove herself from the equation after presenting her husband with a boozed up beefcake for the evening. Again, I could be projecting here, but I’m just not convinced Frank would have noticed either way.

The show leaves many of the details of this encounter out, thankfully sparing us from seeing how the menage actually plays out. But boy does it leave with me some questions, most prominently: who was the bread and who was the meat in the Vice Presidential sandwich?

As bizarre a diversion as that was, my nagging issues with “Chapter 23” persist here, as it largely feels like the show continues to spin its wheels narratively. The story continues as Frank sits down to be grilled by the special prosecutor he convinced the President to appoint last episode (why? who knows!). Hell bent on nailing Frank for misconduct and armed with an incriminating photo of Doug Stamper at Lanigan’s casino, things don’t look good for Frank here.

While nothing particularly interesting happens in this episode (beyond the Underwoods Eyes Wide Shut moment), it does give us another look at Frank on the ropes. Season Two has been a huge improvement on the first when it comes to throwing more difficult obstacles in Frank’s way, but even as we’ve seen Frank sweat more this season, this is the first time we’ve seen him afraid. It’s an interesting moment for Frank, but the show doesn’t let him sit in it for very long before moving on to the solution.

In this instance, it’s radical honesty from Frank. Feeling fatigued from spinning constant lies to both the President and now this special prosecutor, Frank turns instead to the truth and comes (almost) clean. The show has gone to great lengths over the past few episodes to make his personal investigations and the accompanying deals seem like world shattering impeachable offenses, so the turn around here seems a bit convenient. After providing his personal travel logs (and convincing the President to do the same) it seems as though for now Frank’s legal troubles are over.

That whole snoozefest is complemented by two piles of bullshit on either side, both of which I’d like to call shenanigans on.

First up: the orchestrated destruction of the President that the show is clearly moving towards as it finishes up its second season.

Ugh, what? A pill?

While House of Cards may have had this planned for a little while now, as it’s been bringing President Walker and his wife more to the center of the storytelling this season, what’s not clear is how Frank and Claire could have planned for any of it. It’s by pure luck that Frank gets the President’s itinerary (marriage counseling included) into the hands of the prosecutor, and what is the next step? I suppose it’s not beyond the scope to assume that Frank and Claire might have begun to fuck with the Walkers’ marriage just for the sake of fucking with it (as it has seemed all season), but now that it has seemingly shaping up to be a more important part of the plan at hand, it just seems like a major cheat.

And of course today we are treated to more tell-don’t-show storytelling centered around Doug Stamper.

Apparently his budding relationship with Rachel has turned into an almost alcohol alternative for the recovering addict, which sure. That’s hard enough to accept on its own, but we’re also supposed to accept that this is affecting Doug in a significant way. How can the show expect us to take that seriously when, despite the dearth of screen time the character has received, the show has never really been all that interested in establishing him as a human person before telling a story about him?

“I haven’t been myself,” he says at one point, which would be easy to believe if the show did much in the way of showing us what that actually looks like. How has his behavior in these last episodes differed from the Stamper we’ve seen before? His return to normalcy in this episode seems to center around being nice to human Ambien, Seth.

They hint at a rich backstory between Doug and Frank, and Michael Kelly does an excellent job at conveying a sense of desperation around this job, but why exactly? That’s the story I’d like to hear. Without knowing why Doug is so fiercely loyal to Frank, I’m just not sure I care. About his relationship to Frank or his unhealthy obsession with Rachel.

Which, before I leave, I have to of course mention the lesser of the two bits of sexual insanity happening on House of Cards. Doug catches Rachel and Lisa in the act!

Add “peepin’ creeper” to the small list of things we know about Doug Stamper.

We’re in the home stretch now, and the show has thankfully not made the same mistake of dispersing with all the dramatic momentum two episodes before the finale as it did in Season one. Whether or not they’ll be able to top the highs they’ve already hit this season, is still unclear.